Tuesday, June 24, 2014

The Virginia Flaggers are
pleased to announce the release of the first in a series of profiles of
Confederate Veterans who resided at the Old Soldiers’ Home, on the grounds of
Confederate Memorial Park in Richmond, VA.

For over 140
weeks, the Virginia Flaggers have forwarded the colors, twice a week, on the sidewalk outside
of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) after museum officials forced the
removal of Confederate Battle Flags from the portico of the Confederate Memorial
Chapel.

One cannot truly appreciate
the history and significance of the Chapel, nor the degree of desecration
committed when museum leadership, driven by their own misguided prejudice and
ignorance, removed the flags, without knowing the (personal) stories of the men
who built the Chapel, worshiped in it every Sunday, and gathered each time the
bell tolled, to pay their respects to and honor their comrades, as one by one,
the Veterans passed over to eternity.

For many of our
Flaggers, this fight is about more than just defending our Heritage against yet
another unwarranted and unprovoked attack. For those whose
veins course with the blood of the men who actually lived and died at the Old
Soldiers’ Home, it is personal...

Veteran Profile:
Howard Malcolm Walthall, Co. D, 1st VA Infantry

By Laurel Kathryn
Scott

On April 21, 1861, without
consulting his parents, 19-year-old Howard Malcolm Walthall—a clerk in Richmond,
Virginia—stepped into a vacant store and enlisted to defend his home. Like his
younger brother Robert Ryland Walthall and other locals, he became a private in
the 1st Virginia Regiment just days after that state's secession from the Union.
"I was in my teens then, and with crude ideas of what going to war meant," he
later wrote. But he knew that the Southern states refused to submit to
oppressive legislation. He also knew that attempts to prevent secession by
military force "fired the southern spirit, and they made ready to resist the
invasion."

Photo: Howard (on the left) with his younger
brother Robert (“Ryland”) in their uniforms, 1861 - Courtesy of Grace Walthall Turner Karish

​

Co. D, 1st VA entered the fray
July 18, 1861 at Blackburn's Ford. In his post-war memoir, Howard vividly
described his involvement in the battles of Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Frayser's
Farm and Second Manassas, not to mention Gettysburg (where he survived Pickett's
Charge), Plymouth, Drewry's Bluff and Five Forks. He was captured at Second
Manassas and imprisoned briefly in Alexandria's Slave Pen and Washington's Old
Capitol Prison. In May, 1864, he saw his brother shot at Drewry's Bluff after
"standing [and] shouting to the Yanks to come on." Ryland died in Howard's arms.
He had fought his last fight, but Howard faced quite an ordeal getting his body
out of the swamp and to Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery.

The following spring, after
the desperate clash at Five Forks, capture seemed imminent and the men of
Howard's company were told to fend for themselves. Howard commandeered a horse
and rode to Richmond. There he said goodbye to his family, escaping as the enemy
poured into the city and the evacuation fires started. Toting bags of
Confederate money for sons of families left in Richmond, he sold the horse and
rejoined the remnants of his company at Amelia Court House. During the army's
chaotic retreat—possibly from Sayler's Creek—Howard was struck in the arm by a
stray bullet. He distributed the money as promised, but as his wound needed
tending and he dared not risk capture, he pressed on toward Lynchburg to see a
cousin who was a doctor. Soon after his arrival, Howard learned of Lee's
surrender. He was paroled at Lynchburg on April 15 and walked back to Richmond,
where he found his neighborhood destroyed by fire and his family
homeless.

After the war, Walthall
rebuilt his life in Richmond and went to work in the tobacco manufacturing
business. He married and raised four children, becoming a deacon of the First
Baptist Church and traveling around the world. He was also active with R.E. Lee
Camp No. 1, Confederate Veterans.

Photo: ​Howard Malcolm Walthall, circa
1909

Courtesy of Grace Walthall Turner
Karish

In 1923, at the age of 82,
Howard—by then a blind, feeble widower—applied for residency at the Lee Camp's
Soldiers' Home. In a touching letter to the home's superintendant, he asked for
a first-floor room because of his difficulty negotiating stairs, and said he
looked forward to living among his old comrades-in-arms. "With the care and
pleasant surroundings at the home, I hope to be out of doors a great deal," he
wrote. "I am well acquainted with several men in cottages ... If Mr.
Chamberlin's [old] room is unoccupied next to Mr. Bachelor, it would be very
agreeable to have it, as then some of my friends might be of service in my
blindness in telling me the time, etc."

Howard left the Soldiers' Home
on Jan. 13, 1924 and died two days later at Grace Hospital, his daughters by his
side.

Photo by Jimmy Creech

90 years after Howard Malcolm
Walthall left this earth, his cousin, Laurel Kathryn Scott, is determined that
his sacrifice, courage and devotion to God and country will not be forgotten, as
she forwards the Colors in his memory, and in protest of those who have
desecrated the Confederate Memorial Chapel and the hallowed ground on which it
rests, and dishonored our gallant Confederate Veterans.

God bless the Walthall
brothers, and God bless those who stand and speak for those who no longer have a
voice!

This weekend, descendants of Point Lookout POW's, guests, and
visitors will gather at Confederate Memorial Park at Point Lookout, MD to honor
the men who lived and died in the Yankee prison there.

We hope you will consider making the
trip, to honor our Confederate heroes, and to support the Descendants of Point
Lookout Organization, and those who have worked so hard to make sure that the
men who died there, as well as those who survived, will not be
forgotten.

"If you have never been
to a Pilgrimage, you should make up your mind to come this year. If you have
never been to Point Lookout, you should make up your mind to come this year.
Life goes on everyday at the Point. Folks come and go, passing by grounds
that contain the earthly remains of the ancestors of many of our members.

You should make up your
mind to come this year.

The men, women, and
children who suffered at the hands of the northern government at Point Lookout
could have abandoned their principles. But, they didn't. They withstood abuse
that we can't imagine, leaving us a valuable inheritance.....truth, honour,
faith, courage,and steadfastness. Once a year, we honour them.

You should make up your
mind to come this year."

My Great-Great Grandfather was imprisoned at Point Lookout
after being captured at the Wilderness in May, 1864, and before being
transferred on to HELLmira.

I am honored to be able to have a part in
this ceremony, in his memory, 150 years later.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

There are many people who are angry that we are standing up,
speaking out, and fighting back against the PC establishment regarding the honor
of ancestors. They have tried, unsuccessfully, to paint us as ill-mannered
haters, and uneducated "racists". History shows that these types of
attacks, both from our enemies and from within, usually are effective, as the
innocent victims (quite understandably) throw down their arms, rather than deal
with the fallout.

This September will mark three years since the Va
Flaggers first stepped onto the sidewalk in front of the Virginia Museum of Fine
Arts (VMFA)... and despite efforts to stop us, we are determined to stand and
fight... until the Confederate Flags are returned to the Confederate Memorial
Chapel, and the honor is returned to the men who lived and died on the grounds
of the Old Soldiers Home.

Why do we do what we do?

Yesterday
afternoon, in temperatures that neared 100 degrees Fahrenheit, Flagger Tommy M.
was one of 1/2 dozen Va Flaggers who answered the call to forward the colors on
the Boulevard.Â In this photo,he displays his inspiration:

Pvt Alexander Morris (His Great Great Grandfather)Pvt James Henry Morris
(His Great Great Uncle)Both served with the 3rd Va Reserves (Bookers
Regiment), from Buckingham,Va. Home Guard, defending High Bridge in Prince
Edward, Va

Sunday, June 15, 2014

I am my father’s son, and for that reason one may seeThat something noble and heroic is expected now of me.

I know that each must stand or fall, upon his own accountEach generation bear the justly chargeable amountIt owes to duty; and I know my father could not doThe thing expected of his son, and still, this too, is true:He left a precious legacy into my keeping; nowI am responsible for this, its safety and just howIt shall be kept untarnished, how its value shall increaseFrom day to day through trying times of war, or times of peace –The name I bear, it is the bond, for faithfulness to trustAnd to the challenge sacredly, I answer now, “I must.”

I am my father’s son and for that reason one may seeThat something noble and heroic is expected now of me.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Heavy rain today has turned the flag site into a muddy
mess and more rain is expected tomorrow. We won't be able to get the heavy
equipment we need in and out, and conditions will not be safe for our
volunteers.

William Footman Camp in Fort Myers did our cause well this morning
with the rededication of the Robert E. Lee bust renovation. After years of
weather wear General Lee was atoned in bright gold and resting at the top of the
monument downtown.

Commander Rob Gates and his camp managed the entire project with many
city and Lee County dignitaries on hand as you will see in the attached file.
Gates is a past recipient of the Ulmer Award.

Compliments to 15th Brigade Commander Tom Fyock, and member Charlie
Hickman for their hours of work and planning. Also in attendance was Florida
Division Heritage Chairman Graham Smith from Tallahassee and 11th Brigade
Commander Leon Arthur.

The Footman camp defended Lee's portrait in the
Commissioners Chambers earlier this year with a heritage victory.

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

The Confederate Naval Jack flag in Summerall Chapel at The Citadel is allowed under state law, the Attorney General's Office announced today.

"In our opinion, this flag would be protected in its present location by the Heritage Act as a 'monument' or 'memorial' erected on public property of the state," Solicitor General Robert D. Cook states in a letter to the two senators requesting the ruling.

"The General Assembly has mandated, by virtue of the Heritage Act, that monuments and memorials honoring the gallantry and sacrifice of this state's various wars are protected," Cook says.

"It is thus our opinion that the Flag referenced in your letter, the Confederate Battle Flag, placed in Summerall Hall in 1939 is protected by the Heritage Act," Cook says.

Charleston County Council member Henry Darby raised questions about the appropriateness of the flag in a house of worship on The Citadel campus.

Last week, County Council voted to delay disbursement of $975,000 in funding for the debt on Johnson Hagood Stadium renovations pending the outcome of the AG's opinion.

"It's time for us to move on. It's not a battle between the county and The Citadel. It's not our fight," said County Council Chairman Teddie Pryor.

Darby raised the issue at the request of constituents, Pryor said. Darby was not immediately available for comment.

Pryor said the college will receive the check for stadium renovations in the new budget starting in July.

The Citadel Veterans will not be dishonored! We join citizens across the country in thanking God for this key, decisive victory, but can't help but assume that the Confederate Battle flags at the Confederate Memorial Chapel in Richmond would have been protected, and the Battle Flags at General Lee's mausoleum at Washington & Lee University would not be in danger...if Virginia had a similar law...

Let's make a Virginia Heritage Act a priority for the next legislative session...and protect ALL of Virginia's history!

Please do not reprint material from this blog without the express permission of the Virginia Flaggers.

WHO ARE THE VA FLAGGERS?

We are citizens of the Commonwealth who stand AGAINST those who would desecrate our Confederate Monuments and memorials, and FOR our Confederate Veterans.

The Virginia Flaggers were organized on September 5, 2011. What began with just a few dedicated Southerners, has now grown to include hundreds of people, from all over the country, who have joined us in defending the honor of the Confederate Veteran, protesting Heritage violations, and forwarding the colors in Richmond, and Virginia… and beyond!

When needed, flaggers stand with our flags against those in opposition in a peaceful, yet forceful manner, to educate and inform the general public, and in open and visible protest against those who have attacked us, our flags, our ancestors, or our Heritage.

Flaggers speak for those who have no voice. We relay a message of Honor, Dignity, Respect, and Heritage to those who never knew, or to those who have forgotten, and to attempt to reach those who refuse to hear.

Our weapon is the Confederate Battle Flag. Our enemies are those who worship ignorance, historical revisionism and Political Correctness.

We take pride in taking a stand for the Cause. For this Cause, we call others to flock to the banner of our ancestors, take up their flags, and join us in battle, for OUR TIME IS NOW.

The Va Flaggers reject any person or group whose actions tarnish or bring dishonor upon the Confederate soldier or his reason for fighting, including those groups and persons using our cherished flag as a symbol for their own dishonorable purposes.